Hello all!Herewith a "trick" .. it works a treat!Make your Email more secure :

Outlook and Outlook Express both have a habit of adding every name they see to the user address book.This can cause infection by some really nasty viruses. I had the Kak-Worm sent to me, unknowingly, in an attachment. My Anti Virus Protection could not get to it - so I had to call Botnay Bay and the virus expert there walked me thru getting rid of it. I lost a few things it had infected but nothing important and I killed the worm. The easiest way to prevent this -- according to the friend who told me --- is to use the Outlook Express "Bcc" feature. Here's what to do:When composing an Email go to and click on View, andall headers.A check mark next to the "All Headers" activates it AND adds the Bcc box-line to your message window. To compose mail : In the "To:" box put YOUR OWN address. Put all the other addresses (the people you are sending to) in the Bcc line.Doing it that way means all the other recipients will see is your address in the "from" and "to" boxes. They will NOT see any other addresses. You can leave the Cc line blank.You will get a return-copy of the message in your own Email to delete but that inconvenience is a small price to pay for the security. And sometimes it is handy to have a copy of the original message you sent!The Bcc feature also prevents addresses being added to your address book. All those SPAM addresses etc.Oh, to eliminate having to type your full address in the "To" box every time ... just add your own address to your address book. .Ta Dah !!!! Hope some of you find this useful.wow

P.S. if you can't make this work, I don't know how to help further ... let's face it .. if this Computer-Idiot (me) can do it, all you Gurus should be able to figure it out!P.P.S. Have we got a new designation here, along with IT and all those ... CI ????

From a computer-illiterate (me)--Okay, I understand what you're saying about BCC's, but...I need some more help, here. How does SENDING bcc's keep addresses from being added to YOUR book? Mine only adds the ones I reply to. And there's a box you can uncheck so it won't do that: Tools; Options; Send. Personally, I'd rather delete one unwanted thing from my address book than go through the bcc process.

Next: I have learned not to even open e-mail that is from an address that I don't recognize--that just gets deleted immediately, all the way out of my computer. I still do this, even though a friend who knows these things said that viruses are only spread through attachments, and you won't get the virus if you just open the mail---the infection starts when you open the attachment that contains it. Ididn't know the anti-virus thing can't check these! Terror!So--my question is, how will using bcc help stop the spread if the virus is in the attachment? Seems like the address wouldn't matter.Any knowledgeable person's input would be welcomed!

Edit: I have been doing for some time now something suggested here by AnnaS. months ago: before sending anything on, delete all the prior addresses. It's simplecourtesy, and now I realize it's a safety measure also.

Oh--on my OE, you can just click on Cc, and you'll get the bcc option.

I’ve been terribly busy lately but I’d like to collaborate a little on this matter.The use of BCC is a fundamental rule of netiquette, nobody should send any email to several recipients in other way. I cannot understand how I receive lots of emails from computing professionals who should know better on which they are disclosing their entire customer database. Another important rule is deleting the old headers when resending an email. As a general rule we must avoid publishing any email address different as ours.When writing on public forums, specially on Usenet news, it would be convenient masking our email address making it only human readable as in juanmaria(AT)hotmail(DOT)com or any similar way. Spammers have scavenging programs that filter postings on public forums to get email addresses to add to their databases.We must never answer a spam message. The removal instructions are usually a means of knowing if an email address is alive. Once you’ve answered, your address becomes more valuable for those spammers.When using BCC is not necessary to type any address in “To:” it works fine either way.What I cannot understand is why using BCC helps you fight against viruses. What is true is that if you have only a few contacts in your address book you’re going to spread the virus less than if you have hundreds of addresses. But it won’t prevent your computer from being infected.“Traditional” viruses, as .exe or .com or other less traditional as MSOffice macros can only be caught by opening an attached file. But, since most people are using Outlook Express that is one of the most virus-friendly email software never written, some new worms are being written to take advantage of the security flaws of this software. Those worms can be spread only by reading a message without opening any attachment and, although usually harmless to your PC, are highly contagious. (Sorry Jackie, I learned about them only a few weeks ago.)If we’re still using Outlook Express (I’m so used to it that I cannot switch to other) we can prevent catching any virus following those tips -I don’t have an English version of Outlook Express so some of the messages I’m going to write may be a little different-.

- We must deactivate the “Preview panel”. This is one of the most virus-friendly features of this software, it opens emails without our permission. You can find this option under the “View” menu, in the “Design” option you must see a checkbox that you have to unmark. After this operation you’ll have to double click a message before opening it so you can safely delete any suspicious email. Nobody but you must decide which emails are opened and which are not.

- We can read a suspicious message without taking any risk. We can press the mouse right button over this message, click “properties”, click “Details” and click the “View source code” button. We’ll get a raw and pretty messy version of the message but totally harmless.

- From time to time we should visit “Windows update” by selecting the appropriate option under the Internet Explorer “Tools” menu. Once there we can download and install the latest security patches issued by Microsoft.

- Of course, having a good antivirus software weekly or daily updated is the best warranty against virus infection. Opening an attachment before scanning it for viruses is a most risky behavior.

Well, if you're still awake at this point I’d like to recommend you taking some strong barbituric to treat your sleep disorder.

Thank you for that! Up to now it was set so when the mail came up the body of the first message was displayed. Now I just have a list of Emails and can decide on read or delete before they are open.The Bcc option, for me, means nobody gets all the names on the list of people I send a message to : Huzzah. And it eliminates having to write separately to people who have very private Email addresses which they entrusted to me and which they do not want bruited about the ether. Thing is, I could not figure out how to delete the addresses when I used "forward" or "reply" so always copied and pasted into a new message and that's time consuming. Guess what all this boils down to is I am now a happier camper. Thank you all for your patience. And big hugs to The One who clued me into the Bcc option and juanmaria and Jackie and, well *all of you!

Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.